Fixing the Fixees

Recreation Cycling
1

Lot of abandoned fixed wheel bicycles (usually with flippable rear wheels with a freewheel on the other side) around at the moment.

Like the minimalism, but they are let down by ludicrously fragile narrow section treadless tyres, ludicrously skinny and fragile tubes to match, and usually those stupid trendy deep rims which don’t have proper braking surfaces and make it difficult or impossible to retrieve spoke nipples.

Punctures are probably why they were abandoned.

The trend seems to be affecting the otherwise servicable coaster brake bikes as well.

Can anything be done?

Are compatible “real world” tyres (or in extremis, rims) available for these frames?

Solid tyres?

Kevlar inner tunes?

I have a couple of these fashion victims but if I don’t come up with an antidote soon I’m going to have to chuck them

2

Let us know what frames you have before chucking them. Chances are small but a nice NJS frame of unknown provenance but extreme rarity might be lurking. Awaiting rescue!

Proper fixie frames will likely need bolted axles rather than quick release.

The deep section rims can be a pain but there are tools for that. I have some deep rims with internal nipples so that’s a step above!

You can run bigger tires and a common size these days is 25 mm. But bigger is unlikely to fit a fixie frame.

Anyway, probably all full of rust by now as well

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Pricy though.